


A Glitch in the System

by Tabithian



Series: A Glitch in the System [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 12:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/431191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first year, no one knows he's there. He's nameless, a phantom, a wraith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Glitch in the System

**Author's Note:**

> The Red X suit is from the _Teen Titans_ cartoon.

The first year, no one knows he's there. He's nameless, a phantom, a wraith. The press catch on eventually, he thinks it might have been Vicki Vale who puts things together, starts to figure out that all the mysterious glitches and crashes taking place in the security systems and computer mainframes in Gotham were intentional, deliberate. The work of someone, and not just happenstance, computer error.

Red X makes a reappearance around that time because Dick Grayson made a bad decision years ago (with good intentions and everyone knows where that leads), and Jason Todd quite frankly didn't care now that he'd established himself as Red Hood. (What point in taunting Dick with that mistake when there were whole new ones just waiting to be used?) That didn't stop him from trying to hunt him down, however, but to Jason it was more of a game than what Dick seemed to think was a life and death matter. (Xenothium powers the suit, after all.) 

Batman had taken an interest of course, Gotham is his city, but Red X kept a low profile, and he had larger concerns than a thief wearing an old suit built on his son's mistakes. Robin tried to catch him, too, of course, but she did it much along the lines of Red Hood. A game of chase me across Gotham's rooftops and nothing more serious. (Much along the lines as Red Hood, save for the fact that she didn't want to kill him.)

Oracle, though. Oracle wants him. To stop him or recruit him, either way doesn't matter because she knows he's out there, but she doesn't know who he is. A game, then, for them both, with neither sure who is the mouse and who the cat.

********

Gotham's beautiful by moonlight. Not beautiful like her sister cities, nothing shining, luminous. Hers is a hard-won beauty, the kind that lasts, born of hardship and toil, heartbreak and sorrow and an underlying will, desire not to lie down, to give in. (Some days, nights, it seems the opposite, but for all of her Jokers and Two-Faces and Penguins, there are her Bats, her Birds. She will not give in.)

"I know you're there."

Behind his mask, Red X smiles. It's a mistake, probably (definitely) to keep playing this game, but. "You still need to catch me." 

"I'll figure out who you are." It's a promise, one he almost looks forward to. 

"We'll see." 

Oracle is the only one who knows Glitch and Red X are the same person. Or, that is, the only one who seems to realize it. If they think about it hard enough, they'll know. Put two and two together and come up with four, but they won't be able to solve for X to find out who he is under the mask, and oh, but that's a terrible joke, a terrible sense of humor he takes no credit for. 

"Passwords tonight?" Oracle asks, genuine curiosity. "Or are you after something else?"

 _No_ , he thinks, and _yes_. Just baiting the trap.

"Fucking hell, Pretender. Didn't expect to see you here."

And there, done and done and done. Oracle's silent in his ear, listening, listening. The Bats and the Birds, neither know what to make of Red Hood, of Jason, but oh how they wish they did.

"Hood." He's not working tonight, not seriously, so he doesn't bother hiding his footprints in the system, let them deal with the fallout later. See if they patch the gaping holes in their security, or not. It's nice to have an easy job once in a while. The moment he's out, he looks up. Jason's watching him. Curious, almost.

"You've got the Bats all stirred up this time." A hint of admiration in there amongst the anger and irritation because Jason had stolen the suit _first_ , fair and square. (Possession is nine tenths of the law, though, should either of them care for it in the first place.)

"It happens." Usually when there's a reason, and he's given them plenty lately.

"There a reason for it?" Jason's not so far gone as he'd like others (Batman, Nightwing) to believe. He loves Gotham as much as he hates her, she's his and he's hers. "'Cause otherwise," he can hear Jason's smirk, "good job."

Yes. No. There's always a reason. "No." (Lie, a lie, there's _always_ a reason.)

"You're lying." Anger would be expected, but no, this isn't Jason angry, he knows Jason angry and this isn't it.

Yes. "Maybe." Half a truth is better than none.

"Now, see." Jason's in a good mood tonight. "You've got Dickiebird all turned around, chasing shadows over the suit." (He'd be worried that Jason knows that he knows, but he hasn't exactly kept that bit of information secret, now has he.) "Bruce is starting to think you're a serious problem." (Not on par with the Joker or the others in Gotham though, never that.) "And Babs is getting pissy because she can't figure out who you are." (A feather in his cap, that.) "Oh, and I? I am getting damn tired of you running around in my old suit." (Pot, kettle, it's been a pleasure.)

He smiles. "All in a day's work." Worth it, for the look on Jason's' face.

"Pretender - "

"Hood." He never does something without a reason. (Lie, a lie, there have been times.) "You ever stop to think there's a reason the Bats are, as you say, 'all stirred up' besides me?" (There's always a reason in Gotham, always.)

Jason stares at him. "What do you mean?" Jason's no idiot, no simpleton, but even the Bats hadn't seen this until recently.

"Think about it," he says. Jason will figure this out, he was (is, always, always, always) a Bat. 

"This is probably why Dickiebird hates you, you know." (Hate is such a strong word.)

"Probably." He smiles. "You'll figure it out." 

Jason glares. "This is definitely why _I_ hate you." (Again, such a strong word.)

"Nice to see you again, Hood." (It is, he hasn't been in Gotham for a while now, he misses Jason and the others.) 

Dick had done such a beautiful job with the suit that it's a shame not to use it. It's always strange, unsettling, when he activates the suit. Everything _blurs_ for a moment, but he's already moving. There, his exit, there, the roof, there, the sky, and then he's flying. Grapple out, trajectory planned. 

Somewhere behind him Jason's swearing, Oracle's laughing in his ear, and he's _flying_.

********

"I will find out who you are,” Oracle says. Pauses. "One of these days." (Of course she will, she's Oracle.)

"Maybe," he says, but he's smiling. 

********

The suit comes off, goes into the hidden compartment in his closet. (Cliché, cliché, but it works). The suit comes off, and he's not Red X, or even Glitch, just an average Gotham teenager, a little small for his age. 

He looks in the mirror hanging on the door of his closet, and Tim Drake smiles back.


End file.
